Opinion

Spillers v. Brooke County Board of Education

  • 24 F. App'x 207
Court
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Filed
Jan 14, 2002
Status
Unpublished
On the bench
Widener, Michael, Hamilton
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 28.2%

The opinion

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

CYNTHIA R. SPILLERS, 

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

 No. 01-1994

BROOKE COUNTY BOARD OF

EDUCATION,

Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of West Virginia, at Wheeling.

Frederick P. Stamp, Jr., District Judge.

(CA-00-51-5)

Submitted: December 12, 2001

Decided: January 14, 2002

Before WIDENER and MICHAEL, Circuit Judges, and

HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

COUNSEL

William A. Kolibash, PHILLIPS, GARDILL, KAISER & ALT-

MEYER, Wheeling, West Virginia, for Appellant. Elizabeth D.

Harter, BOWLES, RICE, MCDAVID, GRAFF & LOVE, P.L.L.C.,

Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellee.

2 SPILLERS v. BROOKE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See

Local Rule 36(c).

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Cynthia R. Spillers appeals from the district court’s grant of sum-

mary judgment in favor of Brooke County Board of Education

("Board") on her claim filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

of 1964, 28 U.S.C.A. § 2000e-3(a) (West Supp. 2001). Spillers

alleged she was terminated in retaliation for filing a charge of dis-

crimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in

June 1996. We affirm.

We review a grant of summary judgment de novo. Higgins v. E.I.

DuPont de Nemours & Co., 863 F.2d 1162, 1167 (4th Cir. 1988).

Summary judgment is appropriate only if there are no material facts

in dispute and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of

law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322

(1986). We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-

moving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255

(1986).

To prevail on a Title VII retaliation claim, Spillers must show: (1)

she engaged in a protected activity; (2) an adverse employment action

was taken against her; and (3) there was a causal connection between

the first two elements. Hopkins v. Baltimore Gas & Elec. Co., 77 F.3d

745, 754 (4th Cir. 1996). If Spillers establishes a prima facie case, the

burden shifts to the Board to produce evidence of a legitimate, non-

discriminatory reason for the adverse action. Texas Dep’t of Commu-

nity Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 254 (1981). If the Board meets

this burden, Spillers must show by a preponderance of the evidence

that the proffered reason was pretextual and that the adverse action

was motivated by discrimination. Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing

Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 147-48 (2000).

We have reviewed the parties’ briefs and joint appendix and the

district court’s order and find no reversible error. Accordingly, we

SPILLERS v. BROOKE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION 3

affirm on the reasoning of the district court. See Spillers v. Brooke

County Bd. of Educ., No. CA-00-51-5 (N.D.W. Va. July 11, 2001).

We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal conten-

tions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and

argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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